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If you think the Canadian dollar has lacked stability the past couple of years, just take a peek into the front offices of the seven NHL teams in the Great White North.

In the past 24 months, each and every Canadian franchise has either changed their coach or general manager – in some cases, both.

When examining why there is just one Canadian team in the NHL playoffs for the first time since 1972-73, this is as good a place to start as any.

History shows that the key of any sports franchise, of course, is continuity among those decision-makers who are forced to pull the trigger on some very tough choices each and every year, ones that ultimately determine the directions a team will take.

Perhaps the best example of that is the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, who have won a league-record six Super Bowls since the early 1970s while under the guidance of just three head coaches - Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin.

Hockey has its examples as well.

The Detroit Red Wings reached the post-season this year for an incredible 23rd consecutive time, arguably one of the most impressive achievements in modern-day pro sports. Part of that success must be attributed to the chemistry and vision shared by GM Ken Holland and coach Mike Babcock, a duo that has been together since 2005.

In Boston, the combo of GM Peter Chiarelli-and bench boss Claude Julien have worked since 2007 to turn the Bruins into the elite team they’ve been the past few years. Doug Wilson and Todd McLellan have been the braintrust of the Sharks since 2008, while the Ray Shero-Dan Bylsma partnership has been in place in Pittsburgh since 2009.

Roster talent notwithstanding, it is no coincidence that the Wings, Bruins, Sharks and Penguins always seem to be playing hockey deep into the spring every year.

It’s called stability of leadership.

And it’s a trait the Canadian teams simply haven’t had.

Without wrapping ourselves in the flag here, it is a sad state of affairs to think that this Stanley Cup tournament will be the first post-season to feature just one Canadian franchise since 1973. Indeed, 41 years ago, it was the Montreal Canadiens of Ken Dryden, Guy Lafleur and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Yvon Cournoyer who parlayed their role as the lone Canadian representative into a Stanley Cup triumph.

Through it all, Canadian hockey fans consider the playoffs as a rite of passage every spring. From the exhilarating ride Canucks supporters enjoyed during Vancouver’s memorable run to the final in 2011, to the thousands of blue-and-white clad crazies who shoehorned themselves into Maple Leaf Square in support of the Leafs’ first playoff appearance in nine years last May, we continuously show the world how much we love our post-season pucks.

And when Canadians in six of the seven NHL markets are robbed of the opportunity to see their teams play past the second week of April, it’s disappointing. And the players know it.

“It’s not fun, for sure,” Calgary Flames forward Mike Cammalleri, an ex-Hab, said. “The players on the team, I can tell you for sure, feel it. It weighs a lot on you, no doubt.

“That’s part of also what makes it so special to play in a Canadian market. When it goes the other way, there’s no more rewarding feeling.”

A “rewarding feeling” only the Habs can relate to right now.

True, the Canadiens organization, like their six Canadian cousins, underwent a recent organizational overhaul, hiring Marc Bergevin as their GM in May 2012 and Michel Therrien as the head coach shortly thereafter.

Truth be told, the Habs went through a speed wobble right after the Olympic break. But give Bergevin credit for stepping in to make arguably the best deal on trade deadline day, not only of all the Canadian teams but throughout the entire league.

Vanek gives the Habs the type of gamebreaker they thirsted for. Of course, you’ll be seeing that for yourselves. Because, as you know, the Canadiens are the only game in town now – or, in this case, the entire country.

As for the other six Canadian squads, there are more questions than answers.

- Vancouver Canucks: The Left Coast Circus

The recent firing of GM Mike Gillis came none too soon ... By not getting adequate return in trades for goalies Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider, he failed to acquire the influx of youth this organization so badly needed ... The pressing questions now: Does coach John Tortorella survive? ... What is incoming boss Trevor Linden’s vision for the future? ... With all these distractions, no wonder this team faded down the stretch ... Stay tuned folks. The Big Top is just getting started.

- Edmonton Oilers: The Disaster

For those of us who watched Dallas Eakins work his coaching and developmental magic with the Marlies for years, the trainwreck that was the 2013-14 Oilers in his first year as coach was a shock ... Is it time the underachieving core of Hall, Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins and Yakupov gets broken up? ... Is GM Craig MacTavish the right man to finally get the Oil back into the playoffs?

- Calgary Flames: The Rebuild

With Brian Burke having been brought on board just last year, we’ll say this: What the Flames lack in talent, they try to make up in work ethic ... Burke says he is the GM on just an interim basis, so who is on his radar? ... And how does he increase the skill level of this team?

- Winnipeg Jets: Manitoba Malaise?

Still have yet to qualify for the playoffs since relocating from Atlanta ... Do they ink Paul Maurice to an extension? ... Or will longtime Manitoba Moose coach Randy Carlyle be on their radar if the Leafs let him go? ... Are Ondrej Pavelec’s days in Winnipeg over? ... And, like Edmonton, is it time to break up an underachieving core?

- Toronto Maple Leafs: The Collapse Kids

Suffered yet another epic collapse for the third consecutive season, this time thanks in part to a post-Olympic eight-game losing streak ... Is Carlyle toast? ... Can incoming team president Brendan Shanahan fix a franchise that has reached the playoffs just once in the past decade?

- Ottawa Senators: Bewildered Bytowners

This is a talented team that many - including yours truly - figured prior to the season to be shoo-ins for the playoffs ... Will Paul MacLean be let go, just one season removed from coach-of-the-year honours? ... Has Jason Spezza played his last game in a Sens jersey? ... Will trade deadline pickup Ales Hemsky be re-signed?